Legal Tech by Lawyers for Lawyers

Enterprising and entrepreneurial attorneys develop new legal tech applications to solve practical problems in legal practice, making work more efficient and accessible.

“So why is it so difficult for attorneys and people in general to make the change to new tech?” That’s a question Krista Andrews, a family law attorney in Fargo, North Dakota, and founder of PartUs, a platform that streamlines the divorce process, asked her psychologist friend.

“She said it’s like the change from a flip phone to an iPhone. At first, you’re like, ‘I don’t want to use this, and I don’t like it!’ But after using that iPhone for a while, you’re like, ‘Oh god, I could never go back to my flip phone.’ The same goes for new legal software. Once you use it, you realize you could never go back. It’s just hard getting people to get to that point.”

However, several external forces may have conspired to accelerate lawyers’ adoption of tech. “I think after COVID, and now AI, and younger generations coming into the profession, attorneys are realizing they can’t keep doing things in antediluvian ways anymore,” says Andrews.

“That’s just not how the world’s going to work, and as resistant as we may be to that change, it’s here. So attorneys are starting to embrace it more, but it’s taken a while.”

Some attorneys were ahead of the tech curve, not only using, but developing new tools. Andrews, who founded PartUs in 2016, is one example. Kristin Tyler, an estate planning attorney in Las Vegas and co-founder of LAWCLERK, a platform that connects law firms with freelance attorneys and AI associates, is another.

Both attorneys shared with Super Lawyers what led them to create their legal tech companies and how they see these tools shaping the present and future of legal practice.

LAWCLERK: Bringing the Benefits of Large Law Firm Personnel to Smaller Practice

Andrews and Tyler developed their respective legal tech as solutions to issues they saw in legal practice.

For Tyler, the idea for LAWCLERK arose in 2015, after leaving a larger regional law firm and founding a boutique firm with several colleagues. While the move to a smaller firm reduced overhead, she says she missed some perks of being at a large firm.

“In particular, we missed having a team of associates down the hall to quickly handle trial preparation when a case didn’t settle,” she says. “We also really missed having the broad subject matter expertise of a large firm.”

The combination of a large team of associates and subject matter expertise on demand, and the fact that 2015 was when marketplace models like Uber or Airbnb were emerging and becoming mainstream — “all of this made us think: Can we do the same for legal, and what would that look like?”

The result was LAWCLERK, which takes the idea of a contract lawyer and brings it to the tech age, says Tyler. It functions as a marketplace where firms can hire freelance attorneys for research, drafting, or other legal tasks.

“We’ve made it much easier for law firms to hire additional help and expertise without extensive in-house legal teams, and for lawyers to pick up extra work. It’s a win-win.”

New Technology, New Ways of Being a Lawyer

By creating a platform for freelance attorneys and firms to connect, Tyler has facilitated a new way of lawyering and reshaped what a legal career means for many younger attorneys.

“We’ve seen it emerge that there’s a whole new generation of lawyers who are full-time professional freelance lawyers. These lawyers don’t want to manage their own cases, run a firm, or go to court, but they want to research, write, argue, think, and do that deep work, and they’re really good at it,” she says.

“It’s amazing to see how creative lawyers are in terms of finding things that work for their need for a satisfying, fulfilling career and also their life.”

PartUs: Streamlining the Divorce Process

Andrews developed PartUs in response to problems she saw in family law practice.

“It was always extremely cumbersome and frustrating for everyone involved in divorce cases to compile all the information necessary to even begin negotiation or mediation. I thought there had to be a better way. That was the impetus.”

PartUs lets clients enter their financial information and supporting documents directly into digital worksheets. Attorneys can review, edit, and share this information with opposing counsel during divorce negotiations.

“Not having to do all the data entry saves lawyers time and clients money. It gets rid of a lot of the heartburn and frustration when one person’s using an Excel spreadsheet, somebody else is using chicken scratching, and you’re spending all your time and money just trying to get your information to be apples to apples,” says Andrews.

“I’ve heard people say it’s a game changer and they couldn’t go back to practicing without it.”

Legal Tech: Getting to the Fun Parts of Being a Lawyer Faster

What does new legal tech mean for practicing attorneys? Andrews and Tyler both say their tools and AI advancements supplement and enhance, rather than replace, lawyers.

“[PartUs is] just a tool to streamline the divorce process and make it less of a headache for everybody,” says Andrews.

Tyler and her team used new AI capabilities to build LAWCLERK’s AI Associate in about six months. Whenever LAWCLERK’s new AI Associate makes a finding, Tyler explains that it runs a series of verification loops to confirm the legal information is correct. The AI Associate provides a link so you can easily see where it has pulled that data.

“You really have to think of this AI Associate as you would a first- or second-year associate,” says Tyler. They’re not perfect, and you don’t take what they give you at face value. “But if they can get you work that is 75 or 80% of the way done, for you to then review and fine-tune, that is a home run.”

Even with new advanced AI capabilities, “I’m a firm believer that AI won’t take our jobs as lawyers,” says Tyler.

“That’s because it just can’t replace the human element. In my world of estate planning and probate, for example, AI can’t sit with a grieving client and navigate the emotional challenges of whatever legal matter we’re working on. There’s always going to be that room for the human element of judgment and being able to sit in the courtroom and read the judge’s face.”

These tools enhance legal practice and help it run more smoothly, but they don’t eliminate the need for lawyers, Andrews adds. “And I think clients are certainly demanding the time and money savings that come from using legal tech. Attorneys are starting to realize they need to get with the times.”

“If AI can cut out the grunt work that we all cut our teeth on as associates a million years ago, that is fantastic. It means we can get to the human process more quickly,” Tyler agrees.

“It means we can do better for this generation of lawyers and clients. I think it will improve lawyers’ satisfaction with the practice of law. They can get to the fun parts of being a lawyer faster.”